WORKERS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ITAIPU HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT (1974-1985): THE FRONTIER BETWEEN WORK AND SYMBOLIC CONTROL MECHANISMS

Abstract

This study analyzed two symbolic mechanisms of control exercised over workers during the construction of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant in the first phase of construction (1974-1985). In this sense, the research focused the analyses on the phenomena of "low production" and "reduction of staff" as important elements and link of workers with the most diverse companies. In these administrative procedures on the side of contractors was essentially the fear of layoffs, in a contradictory relationship taking into account the advantages offered to workers. This symbolic control regulated the possible resistance of workers against the traumatic effects of working hours. To arrive at the results of this study, approximations were made between the aspects of symbolic power and the excesses of rules that orbited the field of works, which generated fears of layoffs. We also analyzed the sources produced by the state's own repression agencies, the contractors' corporate newspaper, as well as the narratives of groups of workers who participated in the construction within the time frame proposed by this study. It was observed that many workers remained passive in the face of the common moral harassment they received in the work classes, because they knew the arguments that could be used to fire them, among them, the low production, understood as the unwillingness to perform a task passed on by the class workers.